France denounced Wednesday what it said was the "unprecedented massacre" of 120 people by Syrian forces and urged Russia to accelerate talks for a U.N. Security Council resolution on the crisis.

At his regular briefing, French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said: "Everything must be put in motion to end this murderous spiral into which Bashar Assad is dragging his people, deeper each day."

Two Egyptians accused of murdering a Filipino were beheaded by the sword in the Saudi capital on Wednesday, said the interior ministry.

The pair, Wael al-Sayed and Rizq Rajab, lured the Filipino driver by saying they wanted to rent his truck before killing him and stealing the vehicle, the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki threatened on Wednesday to replace ministers belonging to the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc if they continued to boycott the national unity cabinet.

"Ministers have no right to suspend their membership in the government because they will be considered resigned," he said at a news conference in Baghdad. "In the next cabinet meeting, if they do not come back, we will appoint replacements."

Candidates began registering on Wednesday for Kuwait's early polls called by the ruler after dissolving parliament over a political crisis amid high hopes for massive change and relative stability.

"The change in this election will be huge thanks to the young generation who will play a pivotal role in the polls," Hussein Jamal, contesting for the second time, told Agence France Presse after filing nomination papers for the February 2 polls.

Four soldiers were killed in a third day of fighting in Zinjibar between the army and al-Qaida-linked militants trying to take over the restive southern city, military officials said on Wednesday.

"Four soldiers were killed and at least 20 others were wounded" in the battles to retake full control over Zinjibar from fighters of the al-Qaida linked Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law) group late Tuesday, they said.

The opposition Syrian National Council on Wednesday urged the U.N. Security Council and Arab League to hold emergency meetings after "massacres" carried out by regime forces.

Reacting to reports this week of the killing of hundreds of civilians, the opposition bloc called for an "emergency U.N. Security Council session to discuss the regime’s massacres in Zawiyah Mountain, Idlib, and Homs, in particular."

Egyptians turned out to vote again on Wednesday in the run-off of a staggered election marred by deadly clashes between protesters and security forces that have left 14 people dead in five days.

Polling stations opened at 8:00 am (06:00 GMT) in a third of the country's 27 provinces.

Bahraini riot police on Tuesday dispersed several hundred Shiite demonstrators who gathered on a highway leading to Manama in one of increasingly frequent anti-regime protests.

Police fired tear gas at protesters who flocked to the Budaiya highway from the village of Abu Saiba, west of Manama, an Agence France Presse journalist reported.

The Syrian navy and air force conducted live-fire man oeuvres on Tuesday to test their preparedness to repulse "any aggression against the homeland," the official SANA news agency reported.

"The air force and air defenses conducted maneuvers with live ammunition ... with a view to testing the combat capabilities of the air forces and to test their readiness to respond to any aggression" against the country, SANA said.

European Union powers led condemnation by U.N. Security Council members Tuesday of Israel's increased settlements in the occupied territories and growing attacks by settlers on Palestinians.

Britain, France, Germany and Portugal said in a joint statement after a council meeting on the Middle East conflict that they were "dismayed by these wholly negative developments" and the threat they pose to the peace process.